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Virtual Reality in the treatment of eating disorders

In the treatment of eating disorders, virtual reality (VR) can be used in exposure therapy, where patients are exposed to food-related scenarios, or for patients with disturbed body image, where healthy-weight avatars are used in virtual reality-settings.

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SBU Enquiry Service

Consists of structured literature searches to highlight studies that can address questions received by the SBU Enquiry Service from Swedish healthcare or social service providers. We assess the risk of bias in systematic reviews and when needed also quality and transferability of results in health economic studies. Relevant references are compiled by an SBU staff member, in consultation with an external expert when needed.

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Published: Report no: ut202102 Registration no: SBU 2020/475

Question

What systematic reviews are there on the effect of virtual reality-based treatment for patients with eating disorders?

Identified literature

6 relevant systematic review were identified [1-6]. All 6 systematic reviews were assessed for risk of bias, and all were excluded due to a high risk of bias. The results from systematic reviews with high risk of bias are not presented.

References

  1. 1. Butler RM, Heimberg RG. Exposure therapy for eating disorders: A systematic review. Clinical Psychology Review. 2020;78.
  2. 2. Clus D, Larsen ME, Lemey C, Berrouiguet S. The Use of Virtual Reality in Patients with Eating Disorders: Systematic Review. Journal of medical Internet research. 2018;20(4):e157.
  3. Dascal J, Reid M, Ishak WW, Spiegel B, Recacho J, Rosen B, et al. Virtual reality and medical inpatients: A systematic review of randomized, controlled trials. Innovations in Clinical Neuroscience. 2017;14(1-2):14-21.
  4. De Carvalho MR, De Santana Dias TR, Duchesne M, Nardi AE, Appolinario JC. Virtual reality as a promising strategy in the assessment and treatment of bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder: A systematic review. Behavioral Sciences. 2017;7(3).
  5. Ferrer-García M, Gutiérrez-Maldonado J. The use of virtual reality in the treatment of eating disorders. Annual Review of CyberTherapy and Telemedicine. 2012;10:17-21.
  6. Koskina A, Campbell IC, Schmidt U. Exposure therapy in eating disorders revisited. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews. 2013;37(2):193-208.

 

Literature search

MedLine via Ovid 2020525

Virtual Reality in eating disorder treatment

Search terms Items found
Population:
1. exp “Feeding and Eating Disorders”/ 30 402
2. (eating adj1 disorder*).ab,kf,ti. 21 236
3. anorexia.ab,kf,ti. 29 676
4. bulimia.ab,kf,ti. 7 641
5. Binge eating.ab,kf,ti. 5 748
6. Exp Body Image/ 17 306
7. Body image.ab,kf,ti. 11 002
8. Body dissatisfaction. .ab,kf,ti. 2 583
9. Or/1-8 73 303
Intervention:
10. Virtual Reality/ 1 766
11. Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy/ 611
12. Virtual reality.ab,kf,ti. 9 936
13. Or/10-12 10 552
Study types:
14. Systematic Review/ 127 969
15. Meta-Analysis/ 114 990
16. ((systematic* or scoping) adj3 (review or overview)) .ab,kw,ti. 172 082
17. (meta analysis or metaanalysis) .ab,kw,ti. 150 266
18. Or/14-17 284 154
Combined sets:
19. 9 AND 13 182
20. 9 AND 13 AND 18 9
Final   9

Scopus via scopus.com 20200525

Virtual Reality in eating disorder treatment

Search terms Items found
Population:
1. TITLE-ABS-KEY((eating W/1 disorder*)) 43 377
2. TITLE-ABS-KEY(anorexia) 86 876
3. TITLE-ABS-KEY(bulimia) 17 304
4. TITLE-ABS-KEY(“binge eat*”) 9 393
5. TITLE-ABS-KEY(“body image”) 31 553
6. TITLE-ABS-KEY(“body dissatisfaction”) 3 980
7. 1 OR 2 OR […] 6 145 342
Intervention:
8. TITLE-ABS-KEY(“virtual reality”) 122 638
Study types:
9. TITLE-ABS-KEY((systematic* OR scoping) W/3 review) 300 401
10. TITLE-ABS-KEY(metaanalysis OR “meta analysis”) 273 981
11. 9 OR 10 443 728
Combined sets:
12. 7 AND 8 369
13. 7 AND 8 AND 11 21
Final   21

Embase via embase.com 20200525

Virtual Reality in eating disorder treatment

Search terms Items found
Population:
1. ‘eating disorder’/exp 53 257
2. (eating NEAR/1 disorder*):ti,ab,kw 28 235
3. ‘anorexia’:ti,ab,kw 42 672
4. ‘bulimia’:ti,ab,kw 10 284
5. ‘binge eat*’:ti,ab,kw 7 562
6. ‘body image’/exp 22 898
7. ‘body image’:ti,ab,kw 15 748
8. ‘body dissatisfaction’:ti,ab,kw 3 014
9. 1 OR 2 OR […] 8 102 718
Intervention:
10. ‘virtual reality’/exp 16 841
11. ‘virtual reality exposure therapy’/exp 626
12. ‘virtual reality’:ti,ab,kw 13 286
13. 10 OR 11 OR 12 21 143
Study types:
14. ‘systematic review’/exp 244 192
15. ‘meta analysis’/exp 185 263
16. ((systematic* OR scoping) NEAR/3 review):ti,ab,kw 213 987
17. (‘metaanalysis’ OR ‘meta analysis’):ti,ab,kw 197 888
18. 14 OR 15 OR 16 OR 17 425 236
Combined sets:
19. 9 AND 13 281
20. 9 AND 13 AND 18 17
Final   17

PsycInfo via ebsco.com 20200525

Virtual Reality in eating disorder treatment

Search terms Items found
Population:
1. TI (eating N3 disorder*) OR AB (eating N3 disorder*) OR SU (eating N3 disorder*) 29 787
2. TI “anorexia“ OR AB “anorexia“ OR SU “anorexia“ 16 925
3. TI “bulimia“ OR AB “bulimia“ OR SU “bulimia“ 12 356
4. TI “binge eat*“ OR AB “binge eat*“ OR SU “binge eat*“ 6 619
5. TI “body image“ OR AB “body image“ OR SU “body image“ 20 884
6. TI “body dissatisfaction“ OR AB “body dissatisfaction“ OR SU “body dissatisfaction“ 3 822
7. 1 OR 2 OR […] 6 56 157
Intervention:
8. TI “virtual reality” OR AB “virtual reality” OR SU “virtual reality” 9 832
Study types:
9. TI ((systematic OR scoping) N3 review) OR AB ((systematic OR scoping) N3 review) OR SU((systematic OR scoping) N3 review) 33 980
10. TI (metaanalysis OR “meta analysis”) OR AB (metaanalysis OR “meta analysis”) OR SU (metaanalysis OR ”meta analysis”) 31 058
11. 9 OR 10 56 978
Combined sets:
12. 7 AND 8 219
13. 7 AND 8 AND 11 6
Final   6
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